United States, Australia Advance to Gold-Medal Match in Women’s Water Polo at Worlds

MELBOURNE, Australia, March 29. THE United States and Australia each picked up victories in the semifinal round to set up an epic clash in the gold-medal match in women's water polo at the FINA World Championships.

11th-Place Match
Germany claimed 11th-place over New Zealand with an extratime 11-9 victory. Katrin Dierolf and Monika Kruszona led Germany with hat tricks, while Kelly Mason connected five times to pace New Zealand.

9th-Place Match
Brazil looked happy to just be here with the Netherlands scoring an 11-2 conquest for ninth place. Danielle de Bruijn tallied four goals for the Netherlands, while Flavia Fernandes and Luiza Carvalho notched Brazil's goals.

Classification 5-8
Italy edged Greece, 10-9, in one classification match. Martina Miceli led Italy with three goals, while Kyriaki Liosi connected for three to lead Greece.

In the other classification match, Canada knocked off Spain, 9-6. Dominique Perrault paced Canada with a hat trick, while Blanca Gil and Jennifer Pareja led Spain with two goals apiece.

Semifinals
In an exciting match that went down to a second extratime period, the United States advanced to the gold-medal match with a 10-9 triumph over Hungary. Lauren Wenger led the U.S. with four goals, while Agnes Primasz tickled the twine five times for Hungary.

Australia set up a potential sellout crowd for the gold-medal match by advancing over Russia, 12-9. Kate Gynther led Australia with four goals, while Ekaterina Pantyulina posted a hat trick for Russia.